French cuisine questions

[42_42_42]

I have recently been researching traditional regional French fare and I have noticed a lot of similarities among differently named dishes (traditional dishes named for the locale of their origin). For example, pot au feu, cassoulet, choucroute garnie, potèe Lorraine and garbure are all very similar, basically all being meat(s) and vegetables stewed together. I am guessing that these are basically descendants of the the medieval pottage, with the regional variants arising based on what was available in that area.

My first question is whether a restaurant seeking to serve a menu representative of traditional French regional foods would be complete with only two or three of the most different variants, or if having all of the variants on the menu together would be confusing for the consumer ?(Ignoring for the moment the logistics of the kitchen and also ignoring a rotational menu.)

My second question is if anyone knows of other dishes that would be at home on this kind of menu (I do have other dishes that I have researched, but additional input is always helpful, even if it duplicates what I've alread notated).

My third question concerns the translation of the word "bacon". All of the online translators translate this as "lard", which, of course, would appear unpalatable to most American consumers. Would lardons or lardoons be an acceptable transliteration? And, if so, which one would be more correct (while understanding that neither is spot on, at least based on babelfish and google translators)?

Sorry this post is so long. If you are able to wade through all of that and answer my questions I am very grateful!

[AdminAssistant]

According to my Oxford-Hachette dictionnaire, lard maigre or lard fumé are both acceptable substitutes. I guess you could also do jambon fumé. I might also direct you do wordreference.com, which has pretty decent forums.

You might also just want to look up online menus from French restaurants. There's Anthony Bourdain's old stomping grounds: http://leshalles.net/brasserie/ if you want something Americanized. Or you can just try Google France.

And, please, if this is a serious endeavor, invest in a good dictionnaire. My gigantic Oxford-Hachette was only $30, and you can find smaller, cheaper ones at any used bookstore. Babelfish is, well, merde.

[42_42_42]

oh, don't I know it! sometimes I plug in stuff and translate it through several different languages and then back to English just for the humor of it.

Believe me, I cannot stand menus with grammatical and spelling errors. Right now this is mostly in the looking into it because I'm interested stage. But if it got serious I would so pay an expert to proof read the menu.

I *think* I might be just as far as the internet can take me on research. Next step is cook books.

I figure, even if I never do launch, at least I'll learned a lot of great recipes!


Yes, I AM that big of a dork!

[AdminAssistant]

I've been meaning to look for a good ratatouille recipe. I like veggies, I need to eat more veggies, but I would like some more interesting ways to fix them.

[Nurian]

I have nothing to add on dishes, per se, but I have advice on sauce:
Demi-glace

It's a wonderful sauce and usually seen in haute cuisine. It use in this base form or be used to create others (hence, Mother of all sauces). A bit finicky, it takes hours (9, if my chef friend is to be believed) to make but it is HEAVEN IN SAUCE FORM!

And you don't have to use veal like the article says. Normal beef works, too. Chicken is possible, in which you get demi-glace au poulette.

You could also buy it online, but the chef in me asks, "Where's the fun in that?"

[AccountingDrone]

You want a fun read? Get Larousse Gastronomique

Combine that with a good dictionary and settle in with a pot of cocoa for a good evenings read. I always find something I am interested in making for dinner. It is one of the few 'cookbooks' I own [and use it more as an aide memoire style of cookbook, I trained in classic french cooking]